Feb 22, 2019 / The Hindu
Proposed network expanded to 119 km, to have 128 stations
Chennai Metro Rail’s Phase II project will traverse more ground and have more stations, according to the revised alignment for the network. There will be 128 stations in the 118.9 km network.
At first, two corridors - Madhavaram to CMBT and Madhavaram to Shollinganallur — will be constructed. While tenders will be floated in a few months, the work will begin by the end of this year, sources said.
Highly placed sources told The Hindu that funds from Centre for this project are likely to come soon.
“We have already begun the process of looking at the documents submitted for funds for this project. We will approve at the earliest,” a source said.
Last week, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a 50:50 joint venture partnership for this project and this means the Centre will be providing Rs. 11,100 crore over a period of six years.
But unlike the Phase I and Phase I extension project, Chennai Metro will not wait to begin the work on this project till the Centre provides funds.
“We already have funds to start this project and the first tranche of loan from JICA will also come in, which will allow us start construction. Meanwhile, we understand the funds from the Centre too will be granted very soon,” another source said.
Earlier, the proposed phase II network of the Metro was 108 km long with 108 stations but that has now been extended to 118.9 km with 128 stations.
Some of the new stations added to the project include Alapakkam Junction, Kamaraj Garden Street near Medavakkam, DLF IT SEZ and Chennai Bypass Crossing near Sri Ramachandra Hospital, Porur.
Also, of the 128, 80 will be elevated stations and 48 stations will be underground. As the number of stations has gone up, in some areas, stations will be less than a kilometre apart.
Meanwhile, the detailed design for some of the stretches are in progress. “The detailed design documents will only show all the finer details of this project. After the detailed design is over, we may know of the minor changes in the project, if any,” another source said.